Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dear Cinema - Kourosh Ziabari:The second edition of Iran’s International Documentary Films Festival “Cinema Verite” came to a close on Thursday. The festival which has the distinction of being the most prominent film festival in the Persian Gulf region also announced the winners of the competition section during the closing night. Indian filmmaker Nishtha Jain’s film “Lakshmi and Me” emerged as the only winner from Asia.

“Cinema Verite” of 2008 hosted bunches of producers, journalists, documentaries and cinema experts from 84 countries worldwide, while the most of participants belonged to India, UK, France, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Japan, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil.

The auditoriums of International Vahdat Hall, Palestine Theater and Freedom Theater screened near to 200 documentaries from international filmmakers who gathered in Iran to expose their talent, capability and skills of displaying the “truth” and “reality” through the means of visual techniques and cinematic knowledge..

Nishtha Jain won the honorary diploma, Verity statue and a 2,000€ award for the best short documentary.

Cinema vertie festivalPrior to this, the Mumbai-based independent director Jain has won several international awards for her much acclaimed documentary “Lakshmi and me” at various festivals such as the 5th Golden Apricot Film Festival of Armenia, Bucharest 2008 International Film Festival, Planete Doc Film Festival of Warsaw and the 2008 International Women’s Film Festival of Dortmund.

The impressive film, narrates the story of an almost poor and miserable woman who works as a servant for her employer who is also another woman. Both of them have a relative friendly communication with together. But what makes the film so effective and eye-catching is the chain of unrelated and challenging accidents that happen for the “Lakshmi”.

The other winner of international section was the polish director Marcin Koszalka who has been awarded with the honorary diploma, verity statue and 5000€ for the best lengthy documentary.

His delicate film “Existence” drew an eye-catching and in-depth outline of Jerzy Nowak’s real life. Nowak is a distinguished 84 year old Polish actor who decided that after death, his body should be used for the benefit of science. This precious documentary follows Mr. Nowak as he makes this most personal and final decision and reveals his own dilemmas and thoughts about death.

Majidi and Mehrjuii are scheduled to be the special guests of the 15th edition of the Boston Festival of Films from Iran, which will be running from November 7 to 30, the museum reported on its website.

Majidi will attend the event to receive the ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema as his latest film “The Song of the Sparrows” will be screened on opening night.

Mehrjuii will be present to receive the first ILEX Award for Lifetime Achievement. His “The Santur Player”, which was banned in Iran, is also on the festival’s screening schedule.

A number of documentaries, dramas, and comedies by both veteran and new directors will be screened during the gala.

In addition, the festival has also organized a short film program to screen “Children of Shell” by Abbas Amini, “In City Lights” and “In Those Hands” by Ida Panahandeh, “Little Bit Higher” by Mehdi Jaravi, “Mirror and Water” by Bijan Zamanpira, and “Old Man and the Rail” and “The Victim” by Panahbarkhoda Rezaii.

The festival is sponsored by ILEX, a Boston-based non-governmental, academic foundation, which promotes the study of humanistic traditions, culture, art, cinema, and literature of the Mediterranean and Near East.

The organizers believe that the Boston Festival of Films from Iran has become one of the most extensive showcases of contemporary Iranian cinema in the United States.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A delegation from six US and Canadian Mennonite universities visited Iran from Oct. 4 to 10 to explore opportunities for academic collaboration with Iranian universities.

The delegation was warmly welcomed by Iranian educators and students and encouraged to pursue further interactions with Iranian universities, according to delegation members. Proposals include professor and student exchanges, academic conferences, joint research projects and video-conferencing between Iranian and North American students.

The delegation was made up of Loren Swartzendruber, president of Eastern Mennonite University; Sally Weaver Sommer, vice president and dean of academic affairs at Bluffton University; Jim Pankratz, academic dean at Conrad Grebel University College; Anita K. Stalter, vice president and dean for academic affairs at Goshen College; Ted Koontz, professor of ethics and peace studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary; and Harry Huebner, professor of philosophy and theology at Canadian Mennonite University, a report by the MCC said.

Iranian university officials expressed particular interest in academic exchanges related to peace, justice, conflict and religion, according to several members of the delegation.Sommer said she hopes that such exchanges can contribute to peace between Iran and the US despite high tensions between governments. She noted that many Americans would be afraid to travel to Iran.

"There's nothing scary about going there," she said.The delegation's visit is part of MCC's ongoing work to build relationships between people in Iran and the West.

MCC began working in Iran in 1990 by helping to provide relief after an earthquake killed more than 30,000 people in the northwest of the country. For the past 10 years, MCC has co-sponsored a student exchange program with Iran's Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute. Through this exchange, two Iranian scholars have done doctoral work at the Toronto School of Theology, and four American couples have studied Farsi (Persian) and Islam in Qom.

The delegation visited a total of 12 universities and research centers and laid preliminary plans for an academic conference with Mennonite and Shiite Muslim scholars in the city of Qom, Iran, in May 2009.

Huebner said that Iranian educators are particularly interested in fostering future interactions between Iranian and North American students. Part of the rationale is to combat harmful stereotypes between Iran and the West."They repeatedly emphasized that our students are the next generation, and 'Do we want to perpetuate stereotypes or break them down?,'" Huebner said.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Iran has claimed a maiden AFC U-16 Championship title with a 2-1 win over 10-man South Korea at Pakhtakor Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

On an overcast day in the Uzbek capital on Saturday, Korea goalkeeper Kim Tae-sung - making just his second appearance of the tournament in place of Kwon Tae-ahn - saved Mehrdad Yeganeh's 25-yard bullet after five minutes.

Iran were nearly handed the breakthrough after 29 minutes as a long forward ball caught the Korean defense flat-footed but, after nipping in behind the backline, Kaveh Rezaei could only lift the ball over a stranded Kim Tae-sung and the crossbar.

Korea were reduced to 10 men 13 minutes before the break as Kim Dae-kwang, who was making his first start of the tournament, collected a second yellow card from Uzbekistan referee Valentin Kovalenko after picking up the first after just nine minutes.

And Iran capitalized on their advantage six minutes later as Mohsen Talebaat picked up the ball just inside the Korea half, flicked it past Lee Dong-nych, before surging into the area and slotting it under an advancing Kim Tae-sung.

Korea coach Lee Kwang-jong introduced Son Heung-min shortly after the break and the move almost paid off as Lee Jong-ho met his cross a minute before the hour mark but watched as his glancing header drifted past the post with Iran goalkeeper Iman Sadeghi caught flatfooted.

But with Korea pressing for an equaliser, Iran doubled their lead three minutes later as Rezaei ran at Korea captain Rim Chang-woo, skipped past the center-back's challenge before calmly finishing past a badly positioned Kim Tae-sung.

Iran continued their dominance in the closing stages, but in the last minute before time Lee Chang fired under Iman Sadeghi from close range.

The win ensured Iran progressed through the entire competition from the qualifying stage with a clean record after winning all 10 games, scoring 31 goals and conceding just three.

Renowned Austrian composer and pianist Roland Batik is scheduled to hold a piano recital concert in the Iranian capital of Tehran.Batik will perform pieces by classical composers, Mozart and Beethoven, along with a number of his own musical compositions.

The Austrian pianist, composer and teacher, Roland Batik is known for his brilliant combination of classical elements with jazz. He has also experienced various chamber music formations both as a pianist and a composer.Batik received the 'Wiener Flotenuhr' award for his complete recordings of the piano sonata of Mozart as the best interpretation of the year in 1991.

He was also awarded the culture prize of Lower Austria Province for extraordinary achievements as a musician and composer in November 2000.Roland Batik's piano recital concert will be held on Oct. 27 and 28, 2008 in Tehran's Vahdat Hall. Adapted from: Press TV

Sunday, October 19, 2008

PoliGazette - Kourosh Ziabari: Most of us have esteemed religions and creeds; believing in a certain faith, prophet(s) and a holy book, praying to a unique God and struggling to behave in a way that please Him, or so we believe.

To followers of monotheistic religions including Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam, there is just one God supposed to be the owner and creator of the whole universe and its components. While believers might assign various names to this creator and possessor of everything, which is natural due to the cultural and linguistic differences, it does not make any difference in the nature, unity and almighty nature of the lord.

The thing is that we believe a single and unparalleled God has created us, assisted us and guided us through a firm path in his unity. Such a God who is able to design the construction of man’s mind with its endless capabilities, design the arrayed rotation of four seasons without any disorder and design millions of flower species with special smell for each of them would undoubtedly have no collaborator and needs no help to incarnate his privileges and powers; otherwise he would not be called as the “creator”.

We don’t attribute each of the natural resources and powers to a special god and don’t believe in a group of gods who co-work with each other to manage and maintain the incidents of the world. Such a belief is potentially unacceptable and rejected since all of us know well that the creation is not a nigh-patrol job to be shifted by reserve guardians.

Creation means making something appeared from “nothing”; endowing existence to something that was not existing before. By the exact means of the word, creation should be interpreted as an exclusive business which does not come from humankind.

Have you ever thought about the industrial or scientific inventions? What the innovators do? Do they create something new? Of course not! They just use previously existing materials, fix and mix them together, handle them in a different way and conclude a new production. I’ve to confess that their process of working is complicated too much; needing creativity and originality which most of ordinary people lack, but their work is not to produce things by using their own-made “materials” and “tools”.

Such a clear and realistic way of thinking is owed to the progressive doctrine of monotheistic religions that lead the mankind toward advanced scopes of thought. So you see, supposing numerous gods for the world and stating that rains, snows, days, nights, love, hate, childhood and adolescence are dominated by each of them indicates the shortsightedness and illiteracy of some of our ancestors in ancient civilizations.

But all of the illiteracy is not limited to those who believe in several gods. On the other hand, we have the irreligious who don’t assume any creator for the enormous cosmos which they are living in. They think that the world came into existence accidentally without any former plans or schedules and its inhabitants also “tumbled” on the earth suddenly rather than being “created”.

However, I am not going to criticize the viewpoints of non-believers, since, believing in nothing is somehow a type of belief itself.

In this brief debate, I have also nothing to bring to the table about with agonists, atheists, seculars or the others who believe that religion does not play any role in the daily life. Of course, they have not any concerns about “the other world”, not afraid of punishment as a consequence of their sins and unlawful acts, never minding about a superior observer who witnesses all of their deeds, rarely preventing themselves from “wining and dining”.

Sometimes, you may begrudge to them who live and commit liberally, having no restrictions, feeling responsible to nobody but to their desires and wishes, not bothering themselves to take part in prayers and rituals, apparently enjoying life.

This does not mean that a religious believer is deprived of material joys, but he tries to live a in a way pleasing to his God, meaning with little regard for superficial entertainment. He is confident that his exercises and mortifications would be granted luxuriously someday and somewhere.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Kourosh Ziabari - Newcastle University: TELLISI (Teaching English Language and Literature In the Society of Iran) is the name referring to an international linguistics congress which was held at the State University of Guilan, located in the Caspian Sea bordering city of Rasht, from October 8th, for two days.

170 English language scholars and researchers from US, UK, Romania, South Africa and Egypt gathered in Iran and presented their lectures, posters and addresses in TELLISI congress up to October 10th in the auditoriums of humanities faculty of Guilan University.

The congress which is said to be the first one of its type in the northern Iran had three honorary guests from US, Russia and UK, all of them among the world-renowned linguistics scholars and professors.

Prof. Vivian J. Cook from the Newcastle University of England who is the editor of Oxford-affiliated journal of "Writing System Research"was the most distinguished guest attending the congress and that was why he attracted lots of students, academicians and reporters who came to Rasht from all over Iran to meet him.

Cook is the author of several books on various branches of linguistics, and his last book named "Second Language Learning and Language Teaching" was published on 2008 by the Hodder Educational publications.

I found a short interlude between his lectures and talked to him on various subjects, topics of his presentation, his viewpoint of Iran and his personal observations in Rasht.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Iranian football team maintained a 100% record with a decisive 3-0 victory against the Persian Gulf tiny rival UAE in the AFC U-16 semi-finals on Wednesday.The first half ended in a draw in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but Bahram Dabbagh in the 60th minute, Akbar Imani in the 76th minute and Kaveh Rezaei in the 90th minute sealed a valuable victory for Iran.

Amir Abdollah and Mohammad Khalil from Emirates were sent off by the Vietnamese referee Ming in the final minutes.

Iran has already defeated Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Singapore and Syria. The team will face the winner of South Korea and Japan on October 18 in the AFC U-16 final game.

Prior to this, Iran had secured its berth for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup as one of the 4 top Asian teams who will be participating in the tournaments.

Nigeria will be hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup next year.

The Iranian squad was absent in the three past editions of FIFA U-17 World Cup in Finland, Peru and South Korea due to the failure of qualification, while its latest and only apperance in FIFA U-17 World Cup returns to 2001 where the matches were held in Trinidad and Tobago.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Although Yahoo removed Iran from the drop-down list, Iranians were still using Yahoo services, according to Kourosh Ziabari, an Iranian journalist and blogger who wrote about the issue for the citizen journalism site OhMyNews.

"[Iranians are using] Yahoo services, downloading new versions of Messenger, using the different web site parts but not finding the name of their country in the sign-up list," Ziabari wrote. "In fact, if an Iranian user wanted to sign up for a new account in Yahoo mail, he should have selected the name of the other countries, and then he would proceed."

Ziabari and another blogger and student, Mohammad Tavakoli, organized an online campaign to protest the move by Yahoo to remove their country from the drop-down menu, which they considered "a mental war instead of a restriction of services" and an affront to their country's "15,000 years of history." The campaign consisted, ironically, of a Google bomb, a site whose metadata keywords don't actually describe the content and drive searchers looking for one site elsewhere -- in Ziabari's case to Hello Yahoo Mail. The site still shows up on the first page of Google search results for yahoo mail

After I queried another Iranian blogger, Hamid Tehrani, who edits the Iran section for Global Voices, I found out that Chrome is blocked, along with other Google downloads, in Iran. But it's relatively easy for Iranian users to get around this obstacle. Ziabari told me in an email (from his Gmail account) that he is still able to access Google services by using a proxy.

"Currently, we are using all of the search engines and portals without any restriction, using the latest versions of Google Earth, Chrome, GTalk and any other downloadable product," he said. In addition to helping users get around government filtering and censorship, proxies and anonymizers can also fool Google's servers into thinking that the downloads were going elsewhere rather than to users in Iran. Continues here

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Freezerbox magazine - Kourosh Ziabari: Is Israel really capable of altercating with Iran? Referring to 2008 CIA factbook, Iran is placed 8th in the world ranking of total number of active troops passing Egypt, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany while Israel stands 31 states. According to the same source, Iran again stands 8th in the world ranking of size of armed forces. while Israel takes the 30th berth. Israeli officials also announced that they are aware about the 600 Iranian missiles pointed to Tel Aviv since 2005 to hit back any strike.

The new generation of Iranian Shahab-3 which is a domestic-produced ballistic missile equipped to cover a distance of 2000 Kilometers, approximately from Tehran to Berlin. Also the Iranian commander of air forces has pledged early that any Israeli strike on Iran would be responded with 10,000 Shahab-3 missiles shooting Tel Aviv.

But with regard to the military strength of Iran, can anyone bring an example that the Persian governments have ever occupied any country or attacked any land in the world? Iran has a civilization of 7500 years but nobody can find a example of Iranians invading other countries during the history.

It seems that Israel and US politicians and diplomats are educated enough to know that any possible attack on Iran would lead to a new world war with irretrievable consequences that just leave repentance and regret.

Iran is a sovereign and historical country that has a right for using peaceful nuclear energy as well as other modern technologies to solve its electricity shortage problem and improving its scientific abilities, but motivating and insulting the Iranian nation in media by aggressing black propaganda, calling them "terrorists" and setting the mental wars will undoubtedly lead to some unsatisfactory results for the world.

Not saying as an Iranian journalist, but as a regular observer of international developments, the global community has no way but to accept Iranians are peaceful and harmless nation that answer to the enemies decisively, having the right to employ the new technologies like all of their neighboring countries, so it would be more appropriate to deal with them without discrimination and bias.

Iran is the most impressive team in the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup according to 56 percent of voters in an online poll by the world's football governing body.

Argentina trails in second place with only 16 percent of votes in the FIFA poll, while Russia is third with 12 percent. Paraguay and Ukraine have 10 and 6 percent of votes respectively.

The impressive Iranian squad held two-time world champion Spain to a 3-3 draw in its first match of the tournament, and easily swept into the second round after victories over Libya, Uruguay and the Czech Republic.

On Saturday, the Asian champions lost their first match of the world cup to Brazil, 1-0. Brazil is unbeaten in the tournament to date, and scored a stunning 49 goals in its first four matches.

“We did exactly what our coach asked us to do when they were attacking. We tried to mark nice and tight in central areas to prevent them getting shots in on goal,” said Iran's captain Vahid Shamsaee.

“Did the pressure get to us? Our plan was to focus on the game and not the crowd. We hope we get to take Brazil on again.”

Brazil's player Betao said, “I think that we came up against a good national side whose hopes for this tournament are still alive.”

“Their keeper's display had a crucial impact on the result, not to mention the way they defended well across the board. Even when they were 1-0 down they still sat back in their area! But the most important thing is the win, not putting on a show.”

Iran will face Ukraine on Sunday and Italy on Tuesday in the national squad's final two matches of the second round, which is held 'round robin' like the preliminaries.

The figures show poll results until October 12, 0630 GMT. Results may change as the poll continues. Adapted from: Press TV

Friday, October 10, 2008

On Saturday evening, the curtain will fall on the third edition of “Mûsîqât”, the festival of traditional and neo-traditional music. The last artist who will perform on the Mûsîqât stage is the renowned Iranian singer and musician Shahram Nazeri, also known as the ‘Persian nightingale’.

A fitting closing evening for a successful festival whose eclecticism has attracted a great number of music lovers.

Shahram Nazeri who was born in 1949 in Kermanshah in the Iranian Kurdistan, is initiated very young by his father to the memorization and recitation of the poems of the great Sufi poet Jalaleddine Rumi. Soon, the young boy will become one of the great masters of Iranian classical singing.

His strong, warm and moving voice which has toured the world, will no doubt mark its stamp on his Tunisian audience, as it sings the texts of Persia’s mystic poets such as Rumi, Hafez, and Saadi, and man’s quest for the divine, as well as his inextinguishable thirst for love and light.

In the 2008 Musiqat festival of Tunisia, Shahram Nazeri of Iran who is also entitled as the "Persian Pavarotti" competed with artists from Afghanistan, Turkey, Morocco, China, Romania, Brazil, Mali, Spain, Italy, France, Agrentina and the host country Tunisia.

Master Shahram Nazeri is globally recognized for his dazzling pieces of song inspired by the poems of Mowlana Jallaludin, the

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Iran booked their place in the second round of the FIFA Futsal World Cup with a 3-2 victory over Czech Republic at the Gimnasio Nilson Nelsen.

The Czechs needed a victory to ensure their place in the last eight, but they faced an in-form Iran side who fully deserved their win. Prompted by the lively Vahid Shamsaee and Mostafa Tayyebi, the west Asians dominated play from the outset, forcing opposing goalkeeper Tomas Meller into some early action.

The deadlock was broken after 17 minutes when Ali Hassanzadeh turned the ball in from a corner kick. Czech Republic's best chance of the half came with seconds of the first half remaining when Robert Mares brought a stunning reflex save from Mostafa Nazari.

Somewhat against the run of play, the Europeans found themselves level in the 28th minute when Lukas Resetar supplied Jan Janovsky who made no mistake. They could have found themselves ahead a minute later, but Martin Dlouhy fluffed his chance with only Nazari to beat.

Arguably the man of the match, Shamsaee put Iran ahead with nine minutes to play, but parity was restored just seconds later when Dlouhy made amends for his earlier miss.

The Czechs needed a win to advance to the next stage and so substituted their goalkeeper to pile more pressure on the Iranians. However, the plan backfired when Hassanzadeh fired the ball into the empty net to sent his team through and his opponents out.

Prior to this, Iran national futsal team defeated Uruguay, Libya and draw with Spain to clinch its qualification by a memorable victory against the Czech republic.

The Asian giant remained undefeated until the last day of group matches beside of the world champions Spain and is slated to face Brazil and see whether it's possible to reserve one of the top 4 berths so as to seal its final progression.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Kourosh Ziabari - Politics in Color : Nowadays, Iran and its people are being threatened widely for a near,possible attack by the Israeli forces if Tehran continue pursuing itsnuclear program. Additionally, the amount of media pressure against thecountry is increasing simultaneous to the rhetoric of Israeli officials,backed by US statesmen.

Some western governments acclaim that they would support Israel for apossible bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities because of thethreatening nature of these installations.White House people and the major EU members state frequently that they arelooking for ways to help the process of global peace, stability and promotethe international security by emptying the world from nuclear threats.

In the meantime, they refuse to pursue the lawsuit brought by the Iraniangovernment against Israel for depositing 170 nuclear warheads.This figure is approved by the former US president, Ronald Reagan too.According to an unwritten law, none of the global mainstream media areallowed or willing to investigate about the mass destruction weapons ofIsrael and its exact figures which have been issued by the Federation ofAmerican Scientists(http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke) and republished by many otherindependent sources.

However, while the Israeli regime itself is under the international pressureabout the details of its nuclear armories and the occupation of Palestinianlands on the other hand, it is lobbying actively to make some troubles forIran.

It is not significantly clear that what are the roles and position of Israelin the nuclear case of Iran. Israel is neither the member of UNSC nor itsigned the NPT and is reckoned as the world 3 countries that didn't join thetreaty.

Kawthar Muhaib - Mideast Youth: I recently interviewed Kourosh Ziabari, a young yet accomplished Iranian journalist who felt compelled to take action against the vilification of his country and people. His approach was to introduce the world to Iran’s rich culture, history and contributions to the worlds of art, science, etc. - aspects of Iran that many are unaware of.

Many of Mideast Youth’s readers (myself included) would have objections to some of his responses, but they remain valid opinions held by him and many of his Iranian counterparts. Mideast Youth was created with the purpose of fostering a fierce - but respectful dialogue - among the diverse groups in the region, and it’s only through challenging each other’s perspectives that we can learn from each other.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Iranian filmmaker Manijeh Hekmat's Three Women is slated to be screened at the 2008 San Luis Cine International Festival in Argentina.

Hekmat's second feature-length production will participate in the event's competition section.Three women recounts the life story of three women from three different generations of Iranian women; a daughter, her mother and her grandmother.

The 94-minute film has been screened at numerous international film festivals including the 2008 Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) in Australia.

The second edition of San Luis Cine International Festival will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, 2008.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

IntentBlog was started in 2005 by Mallika Chopra, Gotham Chopra, Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur. We seek to reach critical mass with a message of personal, social, environmental and spiritual wellness.

IntentBlog serves the global community by providing a platform for dialogue, debate and action around topics such as the environment, economy, conflict resolution, human rights, business and technology, spirituality, health and healing.

In the latest weekly intent section of this communal blog, my article which reviews the Iran-Yahoo relations during the last year is published.

Here is short excerpt of my biography inserted at the end of piece:

Kourosh Ziabari is a 18 years old Persian blogger, journalist and cyber activist who launched the Google bomb against Yahoo.

Kourosh Ziabari, Persian author and journalist, selected as the world's youngest journalist by IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) in 2004, speaks Italian, Deutsch, Arabic and English. Two of his books have been published in Iran and he is known as a scientific and IT-filed journalist. Almost 2000 articles of Kourosh Ziabari were been published in most of Persian authenticated newspapers.

You can read the whole article reviewing the removal and later re-inclusion of Iran's name by following the link here

Friday, October 03, 2008

Expressing views over the internet or blogging is nothing new, but in Iran, where many bloggers are opposed to the Islamic government, the right to express yourself is fiercely defended. So when Yahoo took Iran off its list of supported countries it caused consternation amongst the blogging community. 18 year old blogger Kourosh Ziabari told Outlook why he decided to launch what's known as a google bomb in protest.Link: Blogging for Iran with Kourosh Ziabariaudio: Click here to listen

For any author or journalist, being translated into various languages is a professional honor and that is why I hope my pieces and dispatches continue to be translated in Duetsh, Italian and French which are my beloved languages.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Thanks to three goals of salvation scored in the last 10 minutes of its opening match of 2008 FIFA Futsal world cup at Brazil, Spain escpaed from a historical lose to the 9-times Asian champions Iran.

The defending champion Spain scored its equalizer in the 36th minute, just 4 minutes to an unforgettable lose to the young squad of Iran which is enjoying the world's all-time best scorer, Vahid Shamsaee.

Having played twice in friendly matches in Tehran, Spain defeated both the games 2-1 against Iran but remained unsuccessful to beat Iran for the third time and drew luckily in just 4 minutes remaining to the end of an opening day nightmare.

Iran has won 9 titles out of 10 at the AFC Futsal championships which is reckoned as the most authenticated tournament in Asia.

Iran is also slated to array against Uruguay, Libya and Czech republic in its next games and is one of the highest hopes for being ranked into the top 3 after Spain and Brazil.

The celebrated Iranian director, Behrouz Qaribpour has staged the 'Rostam and Sohrab' puppet opera in the Italian capital of Rome.

Supported by Italy's Vudi Roma Theater and the museum of oriental studies, the opera involved 100 marionettes and 15 puppeteers and was performed on Sep. 30 and Oct. 1, 2008 at Rome's Argentina Theater.

Composed by Loris Tjeknovarian, the opera is based on a tragic story from the renowned epic Persian poet, Ferdowsi's Shahnameh.

Qaribpour is also slated to stage 'Macbeth' at the 15th edition of Incanti International Puppet Festival, which will be held from Sep. 30 to Oct. 9, 2008 in Turin, Italy.

Iranian and Portuguese experts mull over the restoration of a fort built by Portuguese navigators on the south Iranian Persian Gulf island of Hormoz.

Portugal's Ambassador to Tehran, Jose Fernando Moreira da Cunha, at a meeting with directing manager of Iran's Fund for the Restoration and Utilization of Historical Sites, Ali Asghar Parhizkar, agreed to assemble a joint team to work on the project.

Moreira da Cunha said he was eager to expand cultural ties between Tehran and Lisbon, adding that he was prepared to cooperate in rehabilitation of the fort. The Portuguese diplomat touched upon the threats which endanger the historic sites and said Portugal would extend full swing assistance to prevent possible damage by rising sea level.

Iran and Portugal had agreed to revive the site in 2006, but the project was delayed.Portugal's Afonso de Albuquerque landed on the south Persian Gulf littoral island of Hormoz in 1507, during the rule of the Safavids (1501-1736 CE).Studies indicate that the region is also home to 12 Achaemenid cities.

About Me

Born in 1991, freelance journalist and writer. the author of book "7+1" and a contributing writer for magazines of Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, UK and the US.